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PEOPLE vs Melchor G. Estomaca

PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, plaintiff-appellee, vs. MELCHOR ESTOMACA y GARQUE, accused-appellant.

G.R. Nos. 117485-86 | 1996-04-22

REGALADO, J.:


With our recent adjudgment in People vs. Alicando 1 as a backdrop, even an initial perusal of the records of these cases now before us on appeal and/or automatic review gives a sense of paramnesia or, in the French term more often used, deja vu. One cannot escape the illusion of remembering events when experienced for the first time, or of something overly or unpleasantly familiar in the present appellate review.

Indeed, the courtroom dramatis personae in the cases at bar are the same as in Alicando, that is, the presiding judge, 2 the government counsel de oficio, 3 and the substitute counsel de parte. 4

The cases...